1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire with corrosion-resistant terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, aluminum wires have been used for the purpose of weight reduction and the like also in the fields of automotive wiring harnesses and the like. In electrically conductively connecting an aluminum wire to a terminal, electrolytic corrosion in which metals are dissolved in the form of ions in moisture and the corrosion of base metals proceeds by an electrochemical reaction is known to occur if a core of the aluminum wire and the terminal are formed of different types of metals, particularly if moisture is present on a contact part of the both. Here, since the terminal is formed by press-working a copper base material, the electrolytic corrosion of the aluminum wire becomes problematic between copper and aluminum if the aluminum wire is used as a wire as described above.
Accordingly, in a wire with terminal described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-297447, electrolytic corrosion is prevented by applying an anticorrosion treatment to a wire connecting portion with a resin mold or the like. However, since this anticorrosion treatment method is for covering the entire wire connecting portion, the wire connecting portion becomes one size larger. Thus, a housing is provided with an escaping structure in some cases in order to avoid the interference of the anticorrosive with the housing in which this terminal is accommodated.
Generally, plating is applied to a surface of a copper base material constituting a terminal. However, in a terminal production process, the copper base material having the surface covered with the plating is punched, whereby copper is exposed on end parts of the base material. Thus, electrolytic corrosion more easily occurs on the end parts of the base material where copper is exposed than on parts having the surface covered with the plating. Specifically, in the case of taking an anticorrosion measure for an aluminum wire with priority given to easy occurrence of electrolytic corrosion, it is first essential to seal the end parts of the base material where copper is exposed with an anticorrosive.
The present invention was completed based on the above situation and aims to realize the miniaturization of a wire with corrosion-resistant terminal by making a range covered with an anticorrosive smaller.